Building Passenger Loyalty in National Flag Airlines: A Marketing Perspective from Garuda Indonesia and Iberia Airlines Spain

Abstract

This study examines the influence of Airline Brand Storytelling and Digital Customer Experience on Passenger Loyalty through Brand Trust, Customer Engagement, and Customer Satisfaction. Although the empirical data were collected only from consumers of national flag airline services in Java, Indonesia, the study uses the comparison with Iberia Airlines Spain to enrich the marketing context of national identity, digital customer experience, loyalty ecosystem, and passenger relationship management. A quantitative approach was employed using structured questionnaires distributed to 175 consumers of national flag airline services in Java. The data were analyzed using SPSS through validity, reliability, multicollinearity, normality, multiple regression, t-test, F-test, and path regression logic. The results show that Airline Brand Storytelling has a positive and significant effect on Brand Trust but does not significantly affect Customer Engagement. Digital Customer Experience has a positive and significant effect on both Brand Trust and Customer Engagement. Brand Trust and Customer Engagement have positive and significant effects on Customer Satisfaction. Furthermore, Customer Satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on Passenger Loyalty. These findings indicate that passenger loyalty in national flag airline services is shaped more strongly by satisfaction, trust, and digital customer experience than by storytelling alone. The study contributes to marketing management and airline consumer behavior literature by showing that national flag airline storytelling must be supported by reliable digital touchpoints, direct customer engagement, and satisfying service experiences to create long-term passenger loyalty. Practically, the findings suggest that national flag airlines in Indonesia should integrate cultural storytelling, digital service quality, loyalty program value, and customer relationship management to strengthen trust, engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.